C10 Flower of The Month Sampler



V ruler number is 8.78cm, the needle is 9cm long

I have had a change of heart about my C10 Flower of The Month Sampler project for TC. I still haven't added the borders to each pole, but I have been giving the flowers a lot more thought.

First off I thought of doing Australian flowers, then I considered doing a Southern Hemisphere flowers of the month, or just favourite flowers of my relatives for their birthday months. But today it occurred to me that maybe I should try to do flowers from my own garden. I began to think about the varieties of flowers that occur through the year in my garden.

We have several Rose bushes, Gardenias, and Azaleas, then there are spring bulbs such as Tulips, Iris, and Ranunculus. Also during the spring we have the Plum (Ume Blossom), Lemon and Lime blossoms. And at other times of the year we get to see Strawberry flowers, Nasturtiums, Cosmos and even Dandylions when I haven't weeded the garden for a while.

I think I need to percolate on this a little more before I decide what to do.  Barb Suess has been posting on her blog about the progress being made with her temari (which is coming together particularly nicely) if you haven't seen what Barb is doing click over to take a look.

Blog Shout Outs

Finally it has happened, Barb Suess, author of Japanese Temari - A Colorful Spin on an Ancient Craft
(ISBN 1933308125) and co-author of Japanese Kimekomi, Fast, Fun, and Fabulous Fabric Handballs (ISBN 1933308214) has begun blogging!


Here is the link: http://temaribarb.blogspot.com/ Barb's blog is so fresh and new that it doesn't yet show up in a google search, but please pop over and say hi. Her first post is about temari obsession... or as Kristy S from Kuriosity and the Kat and I joke temari ORBsession. Yes we temari makers are all orbssively absorbed in our craft.
Something I have noticed and loved about many of the English language temari blogs in 2010 was the crossover into other languages.  From time to time on this blog we have posts in Japanese, Jane writes in Spanish on her blog , and Rod has done some blogging recently in Italian.


I never imagined I would be a blogger but I love reading everybodys posts, as they allow us to see little snippets of each other's interests in temari and other things too...
 
I'm looking forward to reading more of your blog posts this year.

Latest Temari

As you all know I have been taking Barb Suess' Sunflowers Class.  It is progressing really well, and I am enjoying it a lot.  So today I have some pics of the first completed ball.  I am glad to have discovered that I have a similar purple to the maxi-lock thread supplied in my own stash so I may make the biggie big ball in the same colours... if I can get the same stitching thread colours here.

I am loving this class and find myself salivating all day on Sunday at the prospect of the next installment the following day.  I am not surprised at all to see several names on the class data base of people who also took the Echo Stars Class early last year.  Also I noticed that there is one other Aussie.  Hi J.C. from NSW!!!

Also here is a SPOILER ALERT in case you are doing the TT March Mystery Ball.  My attempt is pictured below. I remember now that I don't really adore making spindles.  Perhaps I am too rough but they love to scrunch in on themselves at the sides (if that makes sense) when they are single.  I never (touching wood here) have this problem when making layered spindles which cross near the center.

Now I had heard of Crocus flower but had never, to my memory, seen one.  So after I stitched the ball I googled Crocus and here is what came up with.... the image below is from here and there are a bunch (pardon the pun) of really lovely flower photos at this site.  I think I will save this link to my favorites.

I think after all my current projects are finished I will make a temari and yubinuki set. I think it might be interesting to try to make a thimble to use as a stand for a specific temari.  Hmmm maybe something to think about..... (brain beginning to percolate with ideas...)

Yubinuki 4

I did say that I wouldn't make anymore of these rings for a while but what did I find myself making last night??? Yes you guessed it.

I had been thinking of making a bracelet size for my niece.  She is only 2 so it needed to be a little tougher than one made with a cardboard base.  I used two staggered layers of template plastic. Also seeing as it will probably get grubby it needed to be at least surface washable.  I don't imagine it will last too long, but then it only took an hour or so to make, and is only made with cotton top stitch and twill tape so it needed be a treasured keepsake.  I think my stitching is progressing quite well with the top and bottom edges quite uniform on thin one.  The twill tape was a little too thick for folding over and there is a slightly wider section accompanied with a bump where the join is.  The thickness of the fabric was good in protecting the plastic layers.  This one is made with 4 colours in a 2:1 stitch.  There are 16 sections and the circ is 15.5cm. I am sure this would look better with bias tape (no bump) but to be honest I was just too lazy (and to be really honest time stingy) to make my own bias from fabric in my stash.

Here is a comparison pic with the other Yubinuki I have made this week.

Ooh doesn't that middle one look nasty on the edges.  These are all stitched in the same way making X shapes around the ring. They only look different because the top one has two colours the middle has three and the bottom uses 4 colours.

Just in case you think I have abandoned temari making... I haven't... I have marked 3 balls this week. One each in  C8, C10 and S10.  If I get some time today I might even make some more bases for the new stitching challenge that Barb Suess is running on TC starting on the 15th.... I think I need a 24 cm base to make a braided Kiku design.  Also the same day Barb's SLS Sunflowers Class (which I signed up a bit late for) will commence... come on postman deliver my threads please!  At least tomorrow is actually Tuesday (I hear you all saying huh???) but what I mean is that while the class begins on Monday in the USA it will already be Tuesday here by then, so the postman still has two delivery days to get those little lovelies on my door step.

Now there's some nice lint balls!!

I had been saving dryer lint over the winter months and have recently worked my first temari using them as the core material.  I made the mari back when the TC Thread Challenge began so I was inspired by pink and purples (not what I usually stitch with).  The temari on the left and right have been detailed in previous posts but the central one was made during Christmas week and is based on Ice Crystals from Barb Suess' book. 

One of the ladies from our May Temari 101 class called saying she was having trouble with the stitches laying flat on this pattern and (although I hadn't stitched the design before) I offered some advice that I thought might help her.  As it turned out what I suggested did help when I used the same advice to stitch this ball.  I admit that while I don't actually like how my ball turned out (the colour choice and lack of sparkle is at fault not the design) I think I will try it again at another time.  I tend to stitch designs as pattern blocks (work up one shape then move to the next... I like to achieve in blocks) and as this one is stiched in woven layers (all the shapes are stitched in each round). 

I am trying to use up the Patina from our thread challenge.  It is lovely but too thick, I much prefer the rayon sold in our store. I did attempt to ply the Patina down like Debi A did in her challenge ball but then tried to stitch instead of wrap it. BAD MOVE!!! It didn't work for me at all!!! I just ended up ripping it out and doing this design instead.  I hate to waste thread so I put all my rip outs into my lint bag for another mari. 

A note on  using lint for the base... I wrapped 'Goldilocks' balls during my experiment with lint.  The first one was too soft, the second (of course) was too hard but the third... it was .... just right.  I have been experimenting with several core materials including shredded paper (not yet stitched on) but I must admit I am a rice hull girl at heart and it is my preferred temari core. 

Well this is my last post for 2009 so have a safe and happy New Years and catch you back here for 2010. Wow I can't believe I just wrote that... 20 something years ago I remember a group of friends working out the ages we would all be in 2010 and how old it seemed.  Now it doesn't seem too old at all. 

My new 'stitching' years resolution is to get out my list of designs to try and make 2 a month... that'll take care of 24 out of the 100's I have on the list... oh and to finish the quilt I began in 2007... still only 100+ blocks to go!!!!

Japanese & English Temari Books in My Stash

When I venture into any new craft I do it "big". Whether it be stamping, card making, sewing, scrap booking, lead lighting, quilting or beading; I need to know everything and buy all the stuff to do it- call it a compulsion - and temari is no different. Here is a visual list of the Japanese and English Language temari books I have acquired. There are several I have purchased that are still making their way to my mail box, but all the images here are books I have on hand. (as others arrive I will add them to this list). Note that they are all numbered and at the end of this post you will find the ISBN and title.

Japanese Language Temari Books.

1 2

One of my students purchased these 2 books on a visit to Kyoto recently and was kind enough to leave them with me for a look. What can I say, I know I won't be able to part with them so I have purchased copies of my own. These were purchased on amazon.co.jp.

3 4

5

These were my first Japanese texts and were purchased together from ebay. As most things sent from Japan are shipped via EMS it is cost effective to purchase several books at once (the postage is usually about 50% on top of the purchase price. The ebay price on Japanese texts is far in excess of the shelf price - but this is the price you pay for purchasing in English.

 6 7

8

These three came from Amazon.jp, international postage with these guys is quite expensive as they use FedEx (twice the cost of one of these books) but adding extra books is really cheap. (About JPY300 per additional book) So of course these were purchased together... I did order Cosmo #7 but they couldn't source it. See below where I eventually found it.

9 10

11

Cosmo book (number7) which is on its' way from Ai's shop. The other two came from Amazon.jp. Book #11 was purchased after I saw a pattern on a web page that showed the scanned page from the book - sometimes sharing a page on the internet does add to the artists income rather than detract from it.

12 13

Book #12 was from Amazon.jp and #13 was, believe it or not, second hand from Etsy -but was really brand new and it was soooooo cheap too (in comparison with ebay). Yes it is a little pamphlet sized book - and not worth the price on it gets listed for on ebay - but still a lovely thing to have.

14 15

Books #14 and #15 are on their way from Ai's store. They are both second hand and #15 is the purple Olympus book and #14 was only JPY400 so I got that too - it is a nice basic little book that seems to be sponsored by Olympus Thread.

English Language Temari Books.

16 17

Both purchased from Fishpond.com, but I later discovered that I could have purchased a signed copy #16 directly from Barb's Site.

18 19

20

These 3 were purchased separately from Amazon.com. Something I will not do again - the postage almost crippled me as they came from different sellers.

21 22

23

These 3 books were purchased directly from the Authors own website: temari.com.

24

This one was picked up second hand on Etsy. It was too cheap to refuse it and the postal rate was amazingly cheap too.

1 ISBN4837707904 Shiki no Temari Kagari / Temari for Four Seasons Vol. 1.

2 ISBN4837706908 Temari Junikagatsu / Temari for Twelve Months, Vol.1.

3 ISBN4837702791 Yasashii Temari / Easy Temari, aka Cosmo Book 1.

4 ISBN4837702805 Sousaku Temari / CreativeTemari, aka Cosmo Book 2.

5 ISBN4837702813 Atarashi Temari 3 / New Temari, aka Cosmo Book 3.

6 ISBN4837702821 Atarashi Temari 4 / New Temari, aka Cosmo Book 4.

7 ISBN483770283X Atarashi Temari 5 / New Temari, aka Cosmo Book 5.

8 ISBN483770784X Atarashi Temari 6 / New Temari, aka Cosmo Book 6.

9 ISBN48377008854 Atarashi Temari 7 / New Temari, aka Cosmo Book 7.

10 ISBN4837704867 Watashi no Temari Nyumon / My Temari, Beginner's Course.

11 ISBN483770199X Yume Temari / Dream Temari, Classic to Modern.

12 ISBN9784837703082 Yubinuki to Hana temari / Thimble Ring and Flower Temari.

13 ISBN427749045X Hajemete Tsukuru Temari / Creating First Temari.

14 ISBN ?? 67577-30 Handcraft Series #30 Temari.

15 ISBN45290027821 Utsukushi Temari / Beautiful Temari - aka Olympus Purple.

16 ISBN9781933308128 Japanese Temari: A Colorful Spin on an Ancient Craft.

17 ISBN9781844483990 The Simple Art of Japanese Temari.

18 ISBN0855326530 The Craft of Temari.

19 ISBN1579902251 The Temari Book.

20 ISBN1861080808 Temari: A Traditional Japanese Embroidery Technique.

21 ISBN0870409832 Temari Treasures.

22 ISBN0870409492 Temari Traditions.

23 ISBN9780971658714 Temari Gifts.

24 ISBN4889960384 Temari Adventures.

First Big Temari

I recently purchased the instructions for this temari from Barb's site. I believe it is very reasonably priced given the wealth of information that comes in the file. When I read through the file I was amazed the mari was so big (42cm Circ). It worried me a little so I put this aside for a while but decided to start this week.

The largest temari I usually make is hand sized (approx 25-27 cm Circ) so I found this one quite a challenge to wrap and due to its' weight (even with a Styro core) when it popped out of my hands it really raced across the floor. It took less time than I expected to make and I was surprised how quickly it got wrapped and marked. If you can't understand how to do a C10 project I can recommend you try this. The instructions are really clear and there are plenty of references to the shape of the faces you should be seeing on the ball. I can't tell you what was louder, the rain outside or the sound of all the pennys dropping.

I needed to give myself time off from stitching during this project (with deep heat on my right arm - I am a temari addict but couldn't stitch through the pain) but I really like how it turned out.

My poor husband suggested perhaps this is one to say goodbye to - not sure if it is the pink colours or the fact it is so big and there is no place to put it in our house. He was a little perturbed by the sight of the next one getting wrapped when he woke this morning.

The second one pictured below is in purples maybe I will make a third in either the suggested colours or maybe in reds and oranges.

In other news..... I have purchased the Japanese Language Cosmo books 1, 2 and 3 from Ebay. These should arrive just in time to be a birthday prezzie to myself. Yay!! Also I got a great deal on Amazon.jp for the Cosmo books 4, 5, 6, and 7. They should be here a few weeks later as they were quoted to ship in 2-4 weeks.
Rebecca

Review of New Temari Book and Recommendations

I am always curious about books on Temari and today I received my latest installment.
The book pictured below. I would not recommend this book too highly as it only has 10 patterns which are then varied in size, colour etc. It seems to have been written by some chaps that have read several books about temari but aren't actually temari artists themselves. In addition some of the terms used are not standard 'temari' language and in my honest opinion I would rather have not spent the money on it.

This may seem a little harsh but in terms of value for money every other temari book I own was better. In defence of this book it did show scope for practical applications for putting the temari to use... but it also included a good deal of bead work on the projects... I guess this is where the contemporary part of the title fits in. Avoid the above book but please try these books written by the authors listed below as they are far more inspiring.

Barb Suess, Diana Vandervoort, and Mary Wood (click the links here to go to their websites to purchase books)

In particular Barb's book is the easiest to learn from as it is written in the most easy to comprehend manner and is accompanied by excellent diagrams. Diana's books (she has written several) have a fairly broad scope and are loaded with directions. Mary's book shows techniques rather than exact patterns - you learn the technique and use your imagination to make your own patterns so whilst this is informative I wouldn't expect most people to learn from scratch with this one.

If I had to choose one and only one it would be Barb's book! She holds your hand through every design step and guides you along with tips from start to finish.

I have no commercial agreement with any author listed here in this post and these are my own opinions based on my experience with the books mentioned. I do own copies of all the books reviewed.

I own almost every book published in English (on Temari that is) and soon I will start collecting Japanese ones (please Finance Gods let the AUD rise against the Yen!!!!) I already have a list as long as my arm and just have to wait for the right time to buy....

Inspirations Magazine Article - Barb Suess

Our favorite temari author, Barb Suess, has an amazing article in the current issue of Inspirations Magazine (Issue 62 April 2009). If you have purchased this magazine, and arrived here at our blog, welcome to a whole new world of stitching.

Check out our blog for links to places to buy temari essentials in Perth... if you live elsewhere (in our big land down under) I can probably put you in touch with resources in your area.

Also for Perth folk come and join us to stitch temari. Just send an email for more details. We all get together weekly to discuss temari and work on new projects.

Till next time... off and stitching...

最近のお気に入りMy favourite design by MIHO

なかなか気に入った！！という毬が作れません。
まだまだ修行が足りないですね。

でも、最近ちょっと好きだな、と思う毬ができたので、
写真アップしてみます。
C8でバーバラの本から、DogWoodのパターンを応用しました。
地が緑で星がちりばめられているので、なんだかクリスマスの
デコレーションのよう。

ちなみにDogWoodは日本語でハナミズキ、ですね。

I have learned to do C8 using Barb Seuss' book. I am addicted to making the C8 division balls. The dogwood pattern is my inspiration for this ball. I also used kiku style stars on the poles. I like brighter colours so I chose a selection from my stash, it looks like a christmas decoration. Dogwood is the English translation for Hanamizuki which is a pale pink or white coloured flower.

A gift for Amelia

This temari has been made by Rebecca for our friend's new baby. It has a foam core which was split in half and hollowed out then filled with bells, a coin and a note.

The bells are for joy. The money is for prosperity.

The notepaper has Amelia's name written on it and a wish for her good health, happiness and longevity throughout her life.

The temari was wrapped in 3 pinks and then divided into

S16 in silver.

The stitching is done in 3 shades of pinks and purple. The obi is made of 12 wraps in 3 colours then overstitched with the net design.

While I stitched the design I filled my mind with the good wishes written on the note paper. I really think it turned out beautifully.

The pattern is based on two projects from Barb Suess's book.

1st picture on our blog

Wow, our first picture on the Temari Addict Australia Blog. These temari were made by Rebecca and were inspired by a lovely pattern in Barb Seuss' book Japanese Temari, A Colorful Spin on an Ancient Craft. I made the first one (the lowest one in the vase) and was so pleased with it I got a little carried away and have made 7 so far....

I loaned the book from my local library, but you should find it at any good bookstore. Actually, I was so sad to give the book back to the library, I went straight out to buy my own copy. I recommend you do the same, especially if you are starting out. It is a great resource, written very simply and includes great artwork.

I can also recommend that you have a visit to Barb's site: http://www.japanesetemari.com There is plenty to drool over and there a several free patterns to try. Barb also sells patterns not featured in her book and offers on line classes. I have signed up for a Echo Star Class starting in April 2009, I think she runs several per year ranging from beginner to more advanced temari.